I am hoping that the Leafs either reunite Gardiner - Rielly who have had tremendous success when paired together or try Dermott on the RS next to Rielly or Gardiner. Hainsey should be relegated to the third pair at ES. I am also hoping that one of Rosen or Holl pushes their way into the top 6.

Liljegren played #6 minutes for the Marlies all year, and he just held his own with the Marlies, which is great for his age but not something that translates to the NHL level yet. I don't think he is multiple years away, but I would be shocked if he contributed at the NHL level this year beyond a late season call up in March.

Liljegrin didn't look NHL ready to me in the playoffs. I'm expecting a big leap forward for him this year. With his age, he's sort of coming into what would be a lot of guys' draft + 1 season. His production was very impressive for his age from what I've read.

Dermott shouldn't be on the top pair yet. Still too many risks. Or at least that was the case in the AHL playoffs.

Will be really interesting to see what happens with Rosen and Borgman, I almost forgot about them. I think Borgman got kind of a raw deal, he had a solid but unspectacular year however he was looking better and better as he played but ultimately his lack of being a right shot is unfortunately what did him in, cause based on just performance / ability he was actually one of the Leafs better D this season. He also got fucked over with an injury and missed pretty much the entire Calder Cup playoffs which is a real shame cause that could've been great experience for him. I think he has what it takes to cut it as a legitimate top 4 in this league, and he plays with an edge which is great.

Rosen had a good year with the Marlies and in the playoffs took it to another level. He has a very intriguing skill set although he's kinda soft. Not sure if he gets a real chance or not due to the whole left side right side stuff but it would be nice to give him a few games. Sadly I feel like it'll be a numbers game and we'll see him head back to Sweden or maybe get traded for a conditional 6th or some shit.

I'm in camp Borg. Not as smooth a skater but he's no slouch. He's also got some puck handling skills that go un-heralded, he carries really well. I think, to be honest, because he's also strong and has a mean streak people overlook his actual skill level. He's been pigeon-holed as "Baby Polak".

Yeah, seeing him live (sample size!!!) there seemed to be a lot of sound and fury that lead to little. I couldn’t tell what combination of A) playing with AHL guys, B) the opponents’ defensive play C) his brains meant that he would skate really nicely with the puck and then make an inexplicable play at the end that lead nowhere.

Curry Rage wrote:Yeah, seeing him live (sample size!!!) there seemed to be a lot of sound and fury that lead to little. I couldn’t tell what combination of A) playing with AHL guys, B) the opponents’ defensive play C) his brains meant that he would skate really nicely with the puck and then make an inexplicable play at the end that lead nowhere.

Curry Rage wrote:Yeah, seeing him live (sample size!!!) there seemed to be a lot of sound and fury that lead to little. I couldn’t tell what combination of A) playing with AHL guys, B) the opponents’ defensive play C) his brains meant that he would skate really nicely with the puck and then make an inexplicable play at the end that lead nowhere.

Last thing, I’ve always wanted to ask you this. The numbers with Zaitsev aren’t as flattering as the way you guys talk about him. What is it that you see that maybe the numbers miss or that maybe people like me miss?

Well, the number one thing that he does better than any player on our team is he separates the puck in D-zone. The cycles stop as soon as he’s on the ice. He separates and that’s a breakout pass. You don’t give him credit for the breakout pass. When the centre grabs the puck and takes off you guys don’t give him credit. I do though. So some of these things that everyone’s looking at — I’m looking at everything. I like the cycle to stop now (snaps his fingers), I like to get on offense. Now the other thing that happens to any young player when you come here. Everything went real good for him (his first season) and then we took him off the power play. Well, we did that on purpose to help (Rielly’s) game and then (Zaitsev) got injured. And then he probably got in his own way. It’s just like anything, when things go bad in life you get in your way and you get a cycle (going) and you’re thinking and you wear yourself out. But we think he’s very, very good. When I spent the whole summer going over all the D-zone (shifts) and he’s in every good clip of breaking up the cycle there’s a reason. When I had other people do it for me — so it was outside our source with no emotion, guess who was the best?

Same thing?

Same thing. So it’s a no-brainer for us. Now, can he get better at some things? Absolutely. Do we want him to get better at some things? Yes. Is he going to? For sure he is. He’s a second-year player, third-player coming up. We like him.

The defense core as it stands – are you happy with it going forward, and looking forward to next Spring, a lot of people expect this team to make a long run in the playoffs. A lot of us are wondering about Nylander, but is there anything going on with Jake Gardiner and his contract status going into UFA next summer?

Dubas: I’ll answer on the defense first – I’ve been consistent in saying I do like our defense. When people ask, I think they’re asking if we can go out and land one of these high, high-end top-10 defensemen in the league type of people, but I think that underestimates what Morgan and Jake have done. With Zaitsev healthy and Travis Dermott continuing to develop, we’ve got Ron Hainsey there to solidify things, and then we’ve got a real good group of younger people coming up behind them. I’m excited to see them in camp and early in the season.

I’ve said continually I’m probably a little more bullish on them than some other people because I’ve been with them the last number of years and I see what they’re capable of. They play the game the way we want to play it. They can all move and they can all move the puck. They can help us get out of our own zone and up the ice.

I think if you have a set way you want to play defensively and move the puck out of your own end, you need to find players that can play that style and not necessarily players that are the defacto top two or three defensemen in the league. I think that will always be a question until we show we can do it. There have been a number of teams in the league that have done it without those types of players in the last number of years. That’s the way we’re going through our process and luckily, we have some history recently showing that teams can have ultimate success with that style of a defense group.

On Jake Gardiner – obviously, he’s an important player for us. He had an excellent season last season and has been a very good player for the Maple Leafs his whole time since he came over in trade a long time ago now. We will continue to have dialogue with him and his representative and handle it the way we handle all of the rest of the discussions. But he’s an important player for us for sure and we’ll just guide it through the year. I think he knows how valuable he is to us, so it’s all good.

Last thing, I’ve always wanted to ask you this. The numbers with Zaitsev aren’t as flattering as the way you guys talk about him. What is it that you see that maybe the numbers miss or that maybe people like me miss?

Well, the number one thing that he does better than any player on our team is he separates the puck in D-zone. The cycles stop as soon as he’s on the ice. He separates and that’s a breakout pass. You don’t give him credit for the breakout pass. When the centre grabs the puck and takes off you guys don’t give him credit. I do though. So some of these things that everyone’s looking at — I’m looking at everything. I like the cycle to stop now (snaps his fingers), I like to get on offense. Now the other thing that happens to any young player when you come here. Everything went real good for him (his first season) and then we took him off the power play. Well, we did that on purpose to help (Rielly’s) game and then (Zaitsev) got injured. And then he probably got in his own way. It’s just like anything, when things go bad in life you get in your way and you get a cycle (going) and you’re thinking and you wear yourself out. But we think he’s very, very good. When I spent the whole summer going over all the D-zone (shifts) and he’s in every good clip of breaking up the cycle there’s a reason. When I had other people do it for me — so it was outside our source with no emotion, guess who was the best?

Same thing?

Same thing. So it’s a no-brainer for us. Now, can he get better at some things? Absolutely. Do we want him to get better at some things? Yes. Is he going to? For sure he is. He’s a second-year player, third-player coming up. We like him.

Unpossible. henweighs say Zaitsev is poop and we need to dump him at any cost.

I've always like Zaitsevs skill set, injuries and mental blocks are what caused him trouble, not a lack of ability IMO. Hopefully a good sports psychologist and some good physio will help him assuming he is using those things.